Clarets suffer Jonathan Walters injury blow

Dan Black

The Clarets could be without summer signing Jonathan Walters until Christmas as the striker continues his rehabilitation from a knee injury.

The 34-year-old, who joined Burnley from Premier League rivals Stoke City, has been absent from domestic duties since limping off in the first half of the Carabao Cup win over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park in August.

The £3m capture, who was floored for a lengthy period during the tie following a collision with Richard Smallwood, opted to play on briefly before being replaced by Chris Wood.

Walters then played 90 minutes for the Republic of Ireland in their World Cup qualifier against Georgia at the Boris Paichadze Stadium 10 days later and seemingly aggravated the injury.

Walters sat out his nation's crucial matches against Moldova and Wales and won't recover in time for the play-offs, which will be staged between November 9th and 11th with the return fixtures then taking place over the following three days.

Burnley boss Sean Dyche had said: “We’ve had a view on it and it’s all common sense in terms of rehab and something we know about, but the knee has flared up and there is a settling down period for that type of injury, so we are unsure on timescales.

“I think it will be a bit of a while; we’re not sure yet, but it’s not going to be days. It’ll be longer than that.”